OFC Nations Cup 2016 Golden Boot winner Raymond Gunemba is on his way home to PNG to reunite with his Kapuls teammates for a training camp in Port Moresby to prepare for the Oceania Stage 3 Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Russia™.

After a class performance in the OFC Nations Cup, which doubled as the Oceania Stage 2 Qualifiers, Gunemba caught the attention of clubs from Columbia, Malaysia, Solomon Islands and Vietnam, but after careful consideration decided to make the move to New Zealand and take up an offer from Eastern Suburbs AFC based in Auckland.

The high profile Lae City Dwellers FC striker was excited to get a taste of the level of overseas football, but is now looking forward to returning to PNG and representing his country again.

Captain David Muta, Tommy Semmy, Daniel Joe and Michael Foster have also returned to PNG from the Solomon Islands, and Nigel Dabinyaba has returned from Australia where he has been playing with Western Pride.

The Oceania Stage 3 Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Russia™ has seen the six teams which advanced from the second round divided into two groups of three teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The two group winners will meet in a two-legged match with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs in November 2017 where they will play CONMEBOL’s 5th placed team for a place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Papua New Guinea join the Solomon Islands and Tahiti in Group B, while New Zealand, New Caledonia and Fiji make up Group A.

New Zealand and New Caledonia will kick-off the Qualifiers, with the first leg played in Auckland on 12 November and the second leg in Kone on 15 November.

For more on Papua New Guinea football visit www.pngfootball.com.pg